Botanical Terms​- Dictionaries and Glossaries

Find out about various botanical dictionaries and glossaries which can be found online.Plus recommended books which help explain botanical terms​See Plant Names and Botanical Latin if you want to know more about these two topics

Botanical Terms, Dictionaries & Glossaries

Botanical Terms

A term is either a word or a phrase that is used to describe a thing or to express a concept, especially in a particular kind of language or branch of study.

Typically terms in botany have a very precise meaning because botany is a science and scientists like to be very precise!

Botanical terms very often need botanical illustrations - in line - to be able to clearly articulate and make accessible the meaning of the term.

Hence the development of illustrated volumes of dictionaries and glossaries. They're useful to a botanical artist and illustrator as they show how a precise feature might be shown - and also to help them understand what they're looking at when working from observation

Two ways of organising terms are:

A Dictionary - a book that contains a list of words, usually in alphabetical order and that explains their meaning in a precise way,

A Glossary - this is a brief version of a dictionary and works on the same principle of providing a list of words, in alphabetical order, and then explaining their meaning in a precise way.

Glossaries might be used for very specific subject areas within a broader area of knowledge e.g. for botany, or the botany of vascular plants, or the botany of plants found in a specific area or country.

Glossary of Pollen and Spore Terminology - A complete dictionary of palynology. All expressions with brief definitions, schematic drawings, bibliography, and cross-references. to synonyms or related terms. By P. Hoen. (English)​

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